Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-04-01
PARASITES.
Via They Area Few Specimens in tho
Animal Kingdom.

|
What They Area Few Specimens in tho
Animal Kingdom.
The following was written for this paper
by Lille Moore, of Wattsburg, Erie Coun-
ty, Pa, aged Is. She has had o good OPP
p~ortunity 10 study animal parasites in that
village, and has improved the opportunity;
The word parasite" means a "hanger-
on" and these shangers-on" may be found
in nearly all communities, either in animal
or vegetable life. We are inclined to think
the former are the most numerous.
In vegetable life we may mention the
mistletoe, the matapalo, the trumpet creep
er, and moss.
The mistletoe grows in England and in
the hummocks in Florida. BY the Druid
priests it was venerated when growing on
the oak--a tree they esteemed sacred.
People in England md Germany still
have a superstitious regard for the mistle-
toe. Its mode of propagation is by a
small, black, gummy fruit, from which
birdlime is made. When one of these Der.
ries lodges in the crotch of a tree, it takes
root and grows to % plant. the limb of
| which seldom reaches q diameter of more
than one-half to three-fourths of an inch.
1t is al evergreen and forms a swelling on
the tree where it starts. 1t grows on the
water oaks in Florida, and would kill the
trees, but every spring the Government
sends out men to destroy it. The mata-
in Central America. 1t is a climber upon
forest trees, and, owing to its rapid growth,
soon covers the tree and kills it, leavin,
the matapalo standing alone. Moss and
the trumpet creeper are too well known to
need any description here.
The mos respectable parasite in animal
life is the cuckoo. Most respectable, be-
cause it is Just as God has made it. It
simply obeys its law of nature when 1t de-
posts an egg in the nest Of some other
bird. and compels that to raise the cuckoo's
young. Parasites in the shape of human
ity obey no law of nature; they are not as
the contemplate habit of leaning on some
thing, and haven't the grit to break off and
stand nlone. Some lear on one thing and
some on another. There are those who
lean on their friends. when they are Just
rs able to work as their friends are.
Shame. shame! on any ~able-bodied per-
son who can't (O get far enough out of his
tracks to earn his rations. Others have
stopped q little lower, and tramp the coun-
try asking for food, or the privilege of
sleeping in a barn. A man that can walk
can work.
A dude is one of the most despicable of
PhltISlkCos IL 1C Su1l Y 4luAS OA W IL XII >
arm he must lean on his watch-chain OF
cane "a poor, weak thing, not able to hold
itself up).
Some cling TO a GIN bottle, as if their
welfare, both in this world and in the next,
depended on it. Some brace up against O
poor little copper snuff box or a clay pipe.
While others are SO poor, SO destitute Of
anything to depend on, in this unfriendl,
world, that they roilup half a dozen poison,
Gus tobacco leaves, that the worms have
crawled over, set fire to one end, christen il
"cigar," and lean on that.
Poor humanity! We think of no word de-
grading enough to apply to those whose in
~tellects are SO dwarfed that they look fol
support to the whisky vote;;" and he whose
manhood stoops SO low that he will support
himself by his o%verrunning Golfers, filled
with the money he has received for the
poisoned beverages dealt out to his fellow
man to make that man q brute on earth,
and a victim to the horrors of q t%ransgress-
or's eternity, is not worthy to be termed
parasite" much less to be known by the
name Of man.
If thus We condemn the poor worm who
sells Intoxicating liquors, what shall we say
of the citizen who at the ballot box san
tions this work of death by his vote, and of
that government that licenses this abomi-
cloak of "respectability?:" 1t may be pleas
ant for some p; ople to live the life of a
parasite" but they can't have their allow
ance of COMMON sense. l admire the per-
son who can stand up, Independent of cigars,
snuff boxes, whisky or the whisky vote, II
and say: I live in a free country aud am a
free man, worthy of the protection of my
country, the respect of my friends and the
approval Of God.-SirteenM Amendment.